Why Buddhism? Westerners in Search of Wisdom

Why Buddhism? Westerners in Search of Wisdom

Why Buddhism? Westerners in Search of Wisdom

Excerpt

In December 1976 I attended my first Buddhist meditation course in Nepal. Back then the climate was such that I did not dare reveal to my colleagues on the British national newspaper that employed me where I had gone or what I had been doing. I knew without a shadow of doubt that to do so would jeopardise my credibility as a rational and responsible journalist. The fact is that 25 years ago Buddhism and activities such as meditation were regarded as being so ‘fringe’ as to border practically on the subversive. So as not to lose face, I even went as far as to wrap the Buddhist books I was avidly reading on my way to work in the classic brown paper to avoid suspicious looks from fellow commuters on the train. Five years on, in 1981, Buddhism was still obscure enough for the features editor of the Sunday Times, no less, to ask me who precisely the Dalai Lama was when I presented him . . .